When you live in a nation like India -- with its vast landmass, varied people and ancient history -- it's quite possible that there are many things you may not know about her.
In this series, we hope to satisfy your curiosity with interesting nuggets of information about India.

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Know India

India, officially
the Republic of India (Bharat
Ganrajya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country
by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion
people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by
the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the
south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land
borders with Pakistan to the west China, Nepal,
and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh
to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and
the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share
a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Home to the
ancient Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade
routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with
its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.[12] Four
world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated
here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in
the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse
culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British
East India Company from the early 18th century and administered
directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an
independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was
marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian
economy is the world's tenth-largest by nominal GDP and
third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).[13] Following market-based
economic reformism 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major
economies; it is considered a newly industrialized country. However, it
continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, inadequate
public healthcare, and terrorism. A nuclear weapons state and
a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the
world and ranks seventh in military expenditure among nations. India
is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary
system consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. India is a
pluralistic, multilingual, and multi-ethnic society. It is also home
to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

States and union territories

India is composed of 28 states and 7 union territories (including
a national capital territory).The union territories
are governed by administrators, appointed by the President of India. Two of the
territories (Delhi and Puducherry) have been given partial statehood, with
elected legislatures and executive councils of ministers, but limited powers.

States

Number

State

Code

Capital

1

Andhra Pradesh

AP

Hyderabad

2

Arunachal Pradesh

AR

Itanagar

3

Assam

AS

Dispur

4

Bihar

BR

Patna

5

Chhattisgarh

CG

Raipur

6

Goa

GA

Panaji

7

Gujarat

GJ

Gandhinagar

8

Haryana

HR

Chandigarh

9

Himachal Pradesh

HP

Shimla

10

Jammu and Kashmir

JK

Srinagar

11

Jharkhand

JH

Ranchi

12

Karnataka

KA

Bengalooru

13

Kerala

KL

Thiruvananthapuram

14

Madhya Pradesh

MP

Bhopal

15

Maharashtra

MH

Mumbai

16

Manipur

MN

Imphal

17

Meghalaya

ML

Shillong

18

Mizoram

MZ

Aizawl

19

Nagaland

NL

Kohima

20

Odisha

OD

Bhubaneswar

21

Punjab

PB

Chandigarh

22

Rajasthan

RJ

Jaipur

23

Sikkim

SK

Gangtok

24

Tamil Nadu

TN

Chennai

25

Tripura

TR

Agartala

26

Uttar Pradesh

UP

Lucknow

27

Uttarakhand

UK

Dehradun

28

West Bengal

WB

Kolkata

Union territories

Number

Union territory

Code

Capital

A

Andaman and Nicobar
Islands

AN

Port Blair

B

Chandigarh

CH

Chandigarh

C

Dadra and Nagar
Haveli

DN

Silvassa

D

Daman and Diu

DD

D

aman

E

Lakshadweep

LD

Kavaratti

F

National Capital Territory

ND

New Delhi

G

Puducherry

PY

Pondicherry

National Symbols of INDIATheRepublic of Indiahas several officialnational symbolsincluding a flag, an emblem, an anthem, a calendar as well as several other symbols. All the symbols were picked up at various times. The design of the national flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly just before independence, on July 22, 1947.There are also several other symbols including the national animal, bird, flower and tree.

It is really amazing to see the various changes that our National Flag went through since its first inception. It was discovered or recognised during our national struggle for freedom. The evolution of the Indian National Flag sailed through many vicissitudes to arrive at what it is today. For complete detail, click here.

India is the largest producer of films in the world.Indian film industry is multi-lingual and the largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced. The industry is supported mainly by a vast film-going Indian public, and Indian films have been gaining increasing popularity in the rest of the world—notably in countries with large numbers of expatriate Indians.